The Begining of the End
by Laura858
Summary: How did Project Blackwing find Vogel and why was it their downfall.
1. Chapter 1

Riggins' couldn't help but think it was cruel to use Dirk to find them but he was always so eager to help. The boy poured over the newspaper in front of him looking for _a_ _thing_ and stopped at the article on page 8.

A suspected gas leak had knocked out several teachers and students putting a teacher in a coma.

"It's a thing!" he squeaked excitedly.

"The school, page 8?" Riggins' asked as he nodded to the agents on the other side of the mirror, Dirk had never been wrong about _things_.

"Defiantly a thing" Dirk responded confidently.

Within minutes Dirk was brought a list of the people at the school."Jacob Vogel" Dirk declared pointing at the list, "he has the friendliest name."

Riggins' sighed Jacob was only 10 years old. He thanked Dirk and called Mr Priest.

It was only a day later that Jacob was brought in unconscious, Mr Priest hadn't wanted to risk a confrontation with an unknown subject and had stunned him on his way home from school. His foster parents hadn't even reported him as missing yet. Mr Priest was both gleefull and disappointed with the easy capture.

When Jacob woke up alone in an observation cell Riggins' voice spoke over the speakers. He tried the usual "You're a superhero" speech. But Jacob wouldn't stop shouting. He ran into doors and walls smashing anything he could get his hands on. They decided to let him cool down.

Two days later and he was still going, screaming, shouting and refusing food, they had stunned him twice but it had made no difference.

Riggins flipped through the thin file that represented everything they had managed to find on the boy.

Jacob Vogel: mother: dead, father: unknown, ADHD, foster care, multiple reports of fighting. Nothing that stood out as paranormal, nothing strange until the 'gas leak' that had left only Jacob awake. New subjects were always worrying, they needed to be identified, classified and tested. With no sign yet of psychic ability and no sign that he could be reasoned Dirk was their best option, he made things happen.

It wasn't unusual to let the children play together, it was fascinating to watch them interact. Riggins' had no misgivings when he led Dirk to Jacob. Dirk fought back his nervousness as he approached the door, the sound of screaming clearly audible from the other side. Riggins' looked down at him, "We brought in that new friend of yours Dirk, could you help him settle in?"

Dirk smiled as he tried to fight down his fear as he entered the room alone. "Hello", the older boy greeted cheerily, "my name is Dirk Gently and we're going to be friends!"

Jacob turned towards the door and froze staring at the other boy. He sniffed the air and approached, slowly. The smile on Dirks face was fixed as he backed up into the wall.

"We've got lots of people here to play with." Dirk babbled, "my friend Mona, she's 10 too and then there's..."

Jacob screamed and darted forward as Dirk dashed across the room, trying to dive under the bed but Jacob was faster and was quickly on him, grabbing hold of Dirk's arm. Before Riggins' could get to them Jacob was pulling blue light from the panicked boy.

Riggins' stopped, he knew what Jacob was now, it should have been obvious really. Jacob was a vampire. Riggins slammed the door on the two boys, Dirk was rubbing his arm and complaining loudly that Jacob was very unfriendly indeed.

Dirk was safe but it was too dangerous for any one but a Blackwing subject to go into that room right now. He'd seen what could happen to ordinary people. He gave the order and the room was filled with knockout gas.

Riggins looked in at the two sleeping boys. There was only one place they could put a Vampire and it wasn't with the other children.

They lowered the unconscious boy into the cell. As soon as the hatch opened the guards could hear the howling and pounding. That stopped as soon as the three saw the kid. Martin growled.

"This is Jacob Vogel" The mechanical voice started "he has been classified..."

"We can smell what he is" Martin snarled, "Where did you take him from!"

"He has been classified as an energy vampire." the voice finished.

"He's a kid."Cross and Gripps screamed at the same time. The hatch above them closed.

They all leaned over to examine the sleeping Jacob, "Vogel" Gripps mumbled, "little bird."

"We can't let them keep him!" Cross exclaimed leaning closer "He's so small!"

Jacob woke up with a scream punched Cross in the face, he jumped to his feet and looked around panicked. His eyes widened as they fixed on the group.

"You know what we are?" Martin asked.

Jacob nodded, he could feel what they were, it surrounded him. HOME. He was home, more home even than he'd been with anyone. Jacob breathed deeply. Here, this was right, they were right, everything clicked into place, he fit.

Cross grinned up at him, blood streaming from his nose. They all felt the energy pick up, felt what he was feeling, felt the emotions swirl around them.

"We're keeping him." Gripps stated.

"Yup." Cross said.

Martin grunted in agreement. "Your one of us kid. they call us vampires..."

"Vampires!" Vogel interrupted, rushing around the room and fluttering his hands "Like Blah Blah Blah!"

He dived at Gripps who beamed and caught the boy turning him upside down. Vogel laughed.

"I'm Martin" he continued a smile at the corner of his mouth, the kids manic energy was contagious, "the one you punched that's Cross."

Cross waved earning another peal of laughter from the boy. "And the one that's got you there, that's Gripps."

"You look like they fed you, you OK?" Gripps asked the squirming Vogel.

Vogel wriggled out of Gripps grasp.

"They put me in a room, then there was a kid!" Vogel stated happily, missing Martins sharp look over at Cross.

"Another kid?" He grunted.

"Yeh! I scared him and it happened again, It was all blue and glowy! He tasted so good!" Vogel was jumping on the spot now.

"So they got more kids here?" Martin tried for nonchalance but the other two could feel the rage pouring off him.

"Yup." Vogel responded running in circles around Cross. "The scared kid said they got lots!"

"Kids in a freak zoo." Gripps muttered darkly. "We gotta fix it."

Martin nodded, glancing over at the oblivious Vogel who wasnow trying to help Cross clear the blood from his face.

"Might take a while." He mused. "But that's not right."

They felt Cross's agreement even as he laughed with the fluttering Vogel.

They had decided, something had to be done.


	2. Chapter 2

It was well past midnight when Riggins finally had the chance to check Jacob's status.  
He'd insisted on witnessing all three subjects being introduced in the past even though he knew how it was likely to go. They tended to circle each other a few times, fight for the fun of it and then accept the other vampire completely. They were certainly pack animals; the tests had proved that.  
He'd had to miss this introduction because he was tending to a very sulky Dirk.  
When Dirk was unhappy he tended to try to find things to do. Everyone knew that Dirk looking for things to do inevitably led to chaos on a cosmic scale.  
Riggins walked quickly through the empty corridors pulling out his phone and was more than annoyed when he found out that his men had just dropped the unconscious kid into the cell with the others. All interactions between subjects were usually monitored, but despite their best efforts no camera could survive the Rowdy three. He knew they wouldn't harm a child on purpose, but they were not gentle creatures and vampire or not Jacob was very small and easily hurt.  
He sighed, the damage was done now and even though the thought put him on edge he'd have to wait until Project Incubus was awake to approach them. With no access to natural light this wasn't the same as morning, he'd have to wait until the noise started up.

Jacob fell asleep before the others, jumping up and down and insisting he wasn't tired until he draped himself over Cross his manic energy finally exhausted.  
He dozed peacefully for an hour before Martin noticed the sharp note of wrongness in the air. Martin was always the first to feel things and the smell of fear from the sleeping boy was impossible for him to miss. Vogel still lay in Cross's arms but he was frowning and curling in on himself.  
Martin made soft clicking sound to get Cross's attention and nodded towards the distressed boy. Cross frowned and put his hand to Vogel's forehead and they all saw what was wrong…darkness, a shadowed figure, taken, taken away, cut off, blind. Vogel whimpered, they all understood.  
Cross focused and pushed a thought to the front of his mind, making it big enough to fill the dream space… / Puppies, fluffy, friendly puppies./  
Vogel's face relaxed.  
/Friendly, soft puppies, waiting to play, wanting to be friends./  
Vogel shifted and let out a tiny "Yip!" in his sleep.  
/Soft, safe, happy, home./ He was still.  
Martin grinned, "Puppies?"  
"Everyone likes puppies." Cross defended in a whisper.  
"I like cats." Gripps contributed. "They scared him" he added tone quiet but concerned.  
They looked at the boy now sleeping peacefully again and Cross nodded. "Shut him up alone."  
"They're gonna hurt him." Martin growled.  
"Blood's supposed to stay on your inside." Cross agreed.  
"Birds gotta fly." Gripps whispered. "First chance we get."

Every meeting with the Rowdy Three needed careful handling. Project Incubus could read every one of your emotions and kill you with ease if you dropped your guard for a second. They were prisoners, assets, test subjects and unlike most Black Wing subjects, they knew it.  
When the sound of howling could be heard through the doors Riggins chose his words carefully and spoke over the speakers.  
"Priest and I brought you boys breakfast, you know the drill."  
He looked over at Priest's men. They had decided that two would do; this was a meeting not a threat. One of them held a large box and the other the arm of the drugged prisoner. They always brought prisoners, murderers, the worst they could find. If he had to feed people to the them he would find people the world would be better without.  
Priest raised his gun as the door that led directly into the cell opened. It was a barren room, the was floor painted with lines and its grey walls were covered in scratches and dents. Three bare matresses lay on the floor; the only other furniture was a bench bolted to the wall and a table and three chairs that had been added recently for good behaviour. Martin and his boys stood behind a red line painted on the floor. They'd never been this quiet, it was worrying. Jacob was the only one moving. He kept darting up to the line and putting a toe on it, playing a game, pushing his luck to see what he could get away with. Priest raised his weapon a little higher and Martin gave a quick whistle that had Vogel rushing to his side. Riggins was happy to see that the boy was unharmed and had taken to the group.  
"How're you settling in Jacob?" Riggins asked in his best talking to children voice.  
He didn't respond, he was looking past Riggins at Priest and the sedated prisoner. Jacob wrinkled his nose and looked over at Martin.  
"Blood." Martin explained simply.  
"Lakes and Rivers." Gripps added.  
Jacob started edging forwards but Gripps caught him and pulled him into a one-armed hug.  
Riggins wasn't sure exactly what was going on here, he'd never seen the three so subdued but the energy in the room felt dangerous, as though something large and invisible was coiled and waiting to strike.  
"We're going to give you boys a week to get settled…" Riggins spoke calmly, the tension of the room pushing in on him, making him feel like he couldn't breathe. "…and here are some things to make Jacob feel more at home."  
The cardboard box was deposited on the floor on their side of the line. Priest reached out a hand and pushed the prisoner forward. He stumbled past an orange line on the floor and the Martin reached out and dragged him over to their side of the line. The vampires fed quickly, blue energy leaving the whimpering man as he writhed on the cold concrete floor. Riggins tried to keep his eyes on Vogel, but he moved to hide his face in Cross's side. When the murderer lay motionless and still Martin and Gripps picked him up and threw him across the room towards them.  
"What happens after a week?" Martin asked.  
"Tests resume for all of you." Priest said gleefully. Riggins shot him a look.  
"No one's going to hurt him Martin, you have my word." He said calmly.  
Gripps growled and Cross tensed.  
"He's a growing boy. He needs care, education, other children, school." Riggins continued.  
Now Jacob growled.  
"We only want to help." Riggins tried but he knew he'd made a mistake as soon as he'd said it. The Rowdy three hated liars.  
They stared at him now, completly focused the silence tense and terrible.  
Riggins had nothing else he could say and so they left, dragging the comatose man behind them.

He stood in the corridor and breathed, he felt hunted.  
"That was new." Priest smiled dangerously. "They seem real protective of the fourth subject."  
"No." Riggins said sharply.  
"It's always an advantage to have a plan B. Leverage."  
"Their energy does seem different." Riggins agreed eyes on the closed door. "It's a situation that'll need close monitoring."

The door slammed on them and Vogel stopped clutching Cross and started swiping at his tongue with his hands. "Blergh!"  
Gripps smiled, "It's not poison. Just tastes that way. They always bring us poison people."

"Boys." Martin called, bringing their attention to the other thing that the agents had brought into their cage.  
Gripps and Cross cautiously approached the box looking to Martin for confirmation. Martin sniffed and nodded. They surrounded the box, hands out and closed their eyes, Vogel sat cross legged watching his brothers as quiet popping noises emanated from then box the stopped. The three stepped back eyes dark.  
"They try an slip cameras in here all the time." Martin said.  
"Wriggly bugs!" Gripps confirmed happily.  
"We fry em!" Cross shouted.  
"Fire bugs!" Vogel added gleefully jumping in circles.  
"All gone now." Cross emptied out the box and whooped. "They sent snakes and ladders and sharpies!" he threw the bright markers to Gripps who caught them with a smile.  
Vogel looked at the items spread out on the floor, clothes, books and a stuffed bear? Blah boring. He vaulted over Martin and into the box giggling.  
Martin settled back against the wall watching with amused interest as an upside-down box crawled around the room. He didn't hit anything.  
"Think you can find Gripps, tortoise?" Martin enquired nodding at Gripps who moved silently around the room, standing by the door.  
Vogel squeaked and made a beeline for the other Rowdy. The box stopped, and Vogel jumped out, pouncing on his target. "We got us a hunter." Gripps exclaimed happily.  
"You're good," Cross said, "How'd you think you found him?"  
Vogel paused. "I can't smell you." he said questioningly.  
"No, we don't smell, you won't either soon. One of those things when you only eat energy." Martin explained picking up the stuffed bear from the floor.  
Vogel perked up. "You were there so I knew you were there!"  
"We always know where we are!" Cross said beaming.  
"Not outside the door." Grips complained kicking the door behind him.  
"No, they use some weird freaking doors here." Cross agreed  
"Blinds your senses." Martin added. "Can't feel nothing outside."  
"You can when they take you out the cage."  
"Freak Zoo." Gripps muttered.  
Vogel launched himself into Matins lap sending the stuffed bear flying "Want to fight?!"  
Martin looked over at the smiling Gripps "We have got a week."

Vogel learned fast, he was quick and strong and tireless. He wouldn't be able to beat an older Rowdy for a quite a while, but he could certainly take down an average human without needing to drain them. The boys radiated pride when Vogel managed to knock Martin down. He ran around the room crowing in victory but stopped suddenly at the crackle of the speaker.  
"Please step behind the red line." The mechanical voice sounded. Their week was up.  
They retreated, shoulder to shoulder, eyes fixed on the door.  
The man who stepped into the room wasn't Riggins. It was Priest, Riggins had let Priest come with his men and their guns. Martin snarled.  
"Come along Jacob." Priest said. "We got some people who want to meet you."  
Vogel shook his head and stepped back, he reached behind him for the chair leg that rested against the wall. Martin whistled sharply. "Gripps"  
Gripps moved forward.  
The men raised their smoke guns.  
Priest smiled "Now you know better Martin. The kid doesn't need an escort. He's safe enough with us."  
The gang tensed for a fight but Vogel stood up, back straight and started forward.  
They all felt a wave of helplessness as they watched him make his way over to stand with Priest's men. He was young, but he was one of them. He'd be able to read the death and danger radiating from Priest with his head in a bucket. He was very, very brave. He felt their pride in him and they felt his strength, magnified as it travelled from one Rowdy to the other, a harmony only they could hear.  
One of the guards dropped his hand onto the boy's shoulder.  
The three vampires stepped forwards as one.  
"Now that Tony" said Priest addressing the man behind him even as his eyes stayed fixed on the glaring Rowdy's in front of him. "Was a stupid thing to do."  
The lights above them flicked.  
Priest kept his gun steady as they led Jacob to the door.  
"We'll drop him back after class." Priest said brightly backing out of the room and slamming the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Vogel's first day was boring, boring, boring, they weren't kidding about school. The room they put him in was like a classroom, dull grey walls, a desk and an uncomfortable chair he was supposed to sit still in for hours. He had a whole week of serious looking men in coats talking about his super special superhero powers, he hated it.  
His second week was boring too and no one could keep up with his hyperactivity. He couldn't answer their questions in the way that they wanted, he wouldn't do as he was told, he couldn't stay still. Jacob felt the doctor's patience running out and the irritability slowly creeping in at the edges.  
By the forth week he could taste the malice and impatience pouring off the scientists, they feed him from a steady supply of criminals but the intensity of emotion the doctors themselves generated always made him hungry. Most days were bad days and he was alone.  
The testing always started with questions and they never stopped asking the same ones: How does energy taste? How could he track a person by their energy? What could he tell them about the universe? What were they thinking right now?  
They couldn't accept that somethings were beyond his ability to explain them. The days ended with Vogel frustrated and the scientists angry.

At the end of the day were the evenings and they were great. He and the guys laughed and broke stuff and fought and played scrabble.  
The best times were when they were all together and the best days were the one's he got to spend with the guys. They'd throw them a bad person or five and see how many they could drain and how fast. They'd test if he could read Gripps' or Cross's mind or they'd watch them play hide and seek.  
Those day's were fun, even with Martin tense and protective and glaring at the guards.

At the end of each day Vogel was escorted back to the Rowdy Three's cell.  
Today was one of the worst times. The days when Vogel got back and the guy's weren't there.  
It happened when they had been taken for their own tests or been thrown into isolation as punishment. Vogel hated it, he ran around the room screaming and shouting to drown out the silence.  
He knew that the guys had it worse and he hated it, hated that they were separated. That they were hurting and he couldn't help. Vogel stopped yelling when he heard a clattering outside the door, it opened a fraction, he could smell fear and blood.

Armed guards crowded the corridor as Gripps limped into the room supported by Martin and Cross on either side. Cross was bleeding through the new bandages on his arm and Martin had a black eye and split lip. They all smelt like anger and pain and protectiveness and love. The door shut behind them with a hissing of the locks.  
"What happened?" Vogel shrieked fluttering around the guys, he wanted to hug them but was too scared to cause more hurt. He knew they'd tell him, there were no secrets among the three.  
Martin growled, "They wanted to know if we'd feel it when they cut Cross."  
"I got out and hurt them right back." Gripps stated.  
Cross laughed "They didn't have enough guys to hold him back."  
Martin was smiling now, he pulled Vogel into a hug. "How was you're day?"  
Vogel huffed, "They wanted to know how long I could run!"  
"You do what we asked?" Cross asked  
"Yeh," Vogel said proudly, "I didn't run my fastest and I stopped way before I was tired."  
Gripps limped over to a pile of ripped sheets and scrabbled around until he found the last of the sharpies, he slowly made his way over the Cross who grinned and held his arm out.  
Gripps examined the bandage and started scribbling on the clean areas with bright green ink.  
Vogel stood at his side jumping up and down. Gripps handed him a marker and Vogel joined him in drawing on Cross but he quickly got bored and started pacing the room. It was too small, way way to small. The feeling of being trapped felt like a hand squeezing his heart, his family were hurting and he needed to scream again.  
Martin got up and stood in his path. "So, you wanna practice fighting, or you want story time?"  
Vogel felt the tightness in his chest loosen, He had the guys! He smiled and flung himself at a cushion on the floor. "Story time." He announced.  
Martin moved to lean against the wall next to Vogel and Gripps and Cross flopped down opposite, Cross's arm resting on Gripps crossed legs so that Gripps could continue his drawing.  
"They got me when I was 15." Gripps said looking at the wall. "I lived in a house with my Ma and big sister. My sister and her boyfriend had a baby."  
"Was it small?" Vogel asked excitedly.  
"Super small." Gripps confirmed smiling fondly, they could all feel the love cascading off him.  
"My family knew I was crazy weird and they thought there was a demon in me."  
Gripps doodled an adorable demon on Cross's arm.  
"But I stayed in the house and didn't hurt anyone. In the end I got so hungry." Vogel felt the ghost of that deep hunger gnawing at his stomach.  
"I couldn't move, I would have starved...but one night someone broke in and headed for the lil baby's room. He had a knife"  
Vogel snarled.  
"I could feel the darkness in him," Gripps continued frowning "and I ate all if it."  
"Instinct." Martin interrupted proudly  
"He died." Gripps said nonchalantly "But he had a friend, and the friend ran."  
Cross growled and Gripps knocked his shoulder into him.  
"The baby was crying I couldn't leave him, and the dude he ran all the way to the police and they ran to Black Wing." Cross leaned his weight against Gripps.  
"That old guy came to talk to my Ma, told her I was a superhero, was going off to be a super secret agent and fight for my country. Then Priest came at night with his shocky thing and they brought me here."  
"You were smaller then." Martin commented  
"So where you." Gripps returned grinning.  
"As small as me?!" Vogel said jumping up and down  
"Nope." Gripps said smiling now.  
"I win!" Vogel cried running at the wall and trying to back flip. Martin caught him before he fell laughing.  
Cross rested his head on Gripps shoulder, he had lost a lot of blood today and they all felt his tiredness. Vogel sat down next to them quietly, leaning against Gripps other side while Martin put himself between the others and the door. The Rowdy three closed their eyes and let themselves be lulled to sleep by their mutual exhaustion.

The guards had said that they had a new friend for him when they picked Vogel up that morning.  
He played hopscotch through the grey corridors flanked by two black clad men, they were taking him somewhere new today. Left, left, right, two corridors left instead of the usual Left, right, right.  
The guards turned to walk down yet another corridor and Vogel stopped dead. Everything in him screamed out against moving forward  
/WRONG, NO, DANGER!/  
He took a step back, the closest guard reached to grab his arm but Vogel dodged.  
"Come on kid, it's just a corridor." he snapped.  
Vogel shook his head, he was shaking. "What's down there?" he demanded.  
"Nothing dangerous, just another kid for you to play with." the other guard said with false brightness. Vogel would have been able to feel the lie even if he hadn't been able to hear it.  
"No!" he said shaking his head, "no, no, no."  
They reached for Vogel, he kicked out and had the first guard down before the other reached for his gun. In a panic Vogel extended his hand and blue light flew to him. The guard dropped his gun and clutched his chest as his anger was ripped out of him.  
The first guard started shouting from the floor and Vogel turned and ran.  
Corridor after corridor flew by until he fell over a boy lying on the floor staring at a plug socket.  
Vogel jumped to his feet and saw the kid from before reach out and flick the plug socket from on to off before slowly getting to his feet.  
He heard the sound of heavy boots running down the corridor and grabbed the older boy, dragging him into the first room he saw, empty except for a few boring looking control pannels. Vogel slammed the door behind them panting for breath.  
"Where are we?!" the boy shrieked.  
"Shhh" Vogel heard the sound of voices calling from outside and Dirk muttered angrily besides him.  
"Shut up British guy!"  
"My name is Dirk!  
More footstep and then Priest's voice spoke softly from the corridor "Icarus...I should have known you'd be involved. Come on out Icarus."  
Dirk froze.  
"He said you're name is Icarus!" Vogel whispered.  
"Dirk Gently is my secret identity." Dirk said angrily. "And frankly you don't even have a super secret name so you-"  
"Icarus, you are very grounded young man." Priest called.  
Dirk pressed against Vogel's side.  
"Svlad." the soft voice tried again. Dirk whimpered, he was shaking now, biting his fingers to keep quiet. Vogel felt the panic and terror; he couldn't resist drawing the energy to him.  
Dirk passed out just as the door opened and Vogel was the only one who knew that it was sheer terror and not the energy taken from him that had caused Dirk to faint.  
"Oh Jacob were you hungry?" Priest tutted. Vogel snarled and leapt for Priest's throat but screamed as the shock from a guards taser hit him in the side. He turned howling and that's when Priest struck him with something heavy. Vogel stumbled back into the room, knocking into a control panel before falling into unconsciousness.


End file.
